David Jones, the associate vice president for employee and management services, has been promoted to vice president of human resources. Jones will replace current head of human resources Diane Peck, who announced her decision to retire last fall.

Prior to coming to Stanford in 2007, Jones worked at Catholic Healthcare West, Harvard University, Southern California Edison Co., Georgetown University, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Howard University. Shortly after his promotion was announced, Jones spoke with The Daily about his upcoming job.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): How do you plan to improve the services available to Stanford staff members? What have you done during your current tenure to that effect?

David Jones (DJ): Well, first of all, I think that continuing some of the programs that began under Diane Peck—continuing and expanding our leadership and management development program, focusing on employee development—will be cornerstones of the things that I hope to work on. Beyond that, I think that this kind of leadership transition offers an opportunity for reflection around future direction, so I hope to be meeting with lots of people across the University to hear about their hopes and dreams, hearing about their concerns, hearing about what’s working, what’s not working. And because I serve the community—I don’t serve myself—my hope is that whatever we do will support the mission of teaching and research.

TSD: Has the recession had a significant impact on staff hiring and retention? What plans are there for continuing to deal with its impacts?

DJ: In some ways it was negative early on when we had to lay off 500 of our staff—and that was a very difficult decision to make—since that time, the University has been performing much better. We have seen greater grant money, we’ve had some improvement in our budget outlook and lots of talent around the Bay Area is looking at Stanford as their potential employer. We’re doing much better in terms of at least attracting talent.
TSD: How will you continue to promote diversity in hiring?

DJ: I think it’s a really important focus and I think it’s imperative that we always seek out the perspective of a diverse staff as we look to address the many issues that come our way—and we’re stronger for doing that. I’m going to continue the work of my current boss. I think she’s done a great job, and if you just look at her hiring record, she has been a model of putting together a very diverse staff that has been quite successful. My hope is that I’ll not only continue that, but expand that.

TSD: Do you have any specific plans as to how you would do that?

DJ: That would be part of the reflection and listening tour that I go on, but I can say that I was very much involved in these kinds of efforts while I served at Harvard. We did a number of things—we did diversity conferences to help create awareness and understanding around the power of diversity and we partnered with many professional organizations of color to make sure we had relationships with them and to make sure that they understood what great opportunities existed at Harvard. I expect that we will be doing some similar things at Stanford.

TSD: Do you think you will work with students in any capacity? Have you had a lot of interaction with students in the past, either undergraduates or graduates?

DJ: Certainly. This is university number four for me, and at every place I’ve served, I’ve had connections with students in one form or another and I expect that will continue here. In many ways students are the reason why we’re here, so I certainly will have an open door and will always be willing to engage students.